These
illustrations shed light on many of the people, places and clues
discovered in Dan Brown's Inferno novel. Dan's complicated trail of
action and clues can be fascinating -- but also a little difficult to
follow sometimes. So as you read through the book you may want to check
these illustrations and get a clearer picture of who, where and what is
going on. And if you enjoy them like many other people already have,
you'll want to tell your friends by share, tweet or post so they can do
the same.

Leading
off this gallery is the image above. In it, Dante sees Beatrice,
the love of his life. She later appears to him as he goes through his
experience in hell (inferno). This 1883 painting by Henry Holiday
shows the famous Ponte Vecchio or Old Bridge of Florence in the
background.

In
Dan Brown's Inferno....

The
prologue opens in Florence, Italy, with a man running past the Uffizi, the Palazzo
Vecchio, and the Bargello, then turning west. I have been to that city,
but even so could not figure out where he ended up. So I made this
little map. An "X" marks the spot. As you may have noticed, a picture makes it easy.

Credit:
Holst

Badia

What
did the running man find there? Something referred to as "the spire
of the Badia." That is about as understandable as the inside of a
fortune cookie written in Chinese. But the place actually exists, and here
it is. Known formally as the Badia Fiorentina, you see the spire on the
right. On the left is the square tower of the Bargello.

In
chapter one we are told, "She pointed now to a writhing pair of legs,
which protruded upside down from the earth, apparently belonging to some
poor soul who had been buried headfirst to his waist."

That
is inspired by this particular scene
in Dante's Inferno. The drawing was made by Gustave Doré in 1861.
If you are one of the bookish types who actually looks these things up (OK,
I'm guilty, I did it too) it appears in
Canto 19 around line 49.

Credit:
Doré

To
digress for a moment, the interest and passion that got me into all this
was the Knights Templar. Dante's inspiration for his Inferno
came when the Templars were burned at the stake. This fit in perfectly
with my book Sworn in Secret which follows the trail of
clues that set the Vatican against the Templars and Masons. This is the
kind of high risk adventure you dream of seeing in a Dan Brown novel. And
it actually happened. Follow this exploration deep inside the lives of
individual knights and experience some intriguing discoveries. See
Templars book.

There
are many other people, places and things of note that either appear in Dan
Brown's story directly or are relevant to it. Among them are the following.

Palazzo
Vecchio

This
"Old Palace" was built to be the city hall of Florence in the
1300s. Its famous tower stands 300 feet high. Like many other
buildings in Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum.

Dante's
Inferno led to Dan Brown's novel of the same name, and he is
important to this story. Born in Florence around 1265, Dante was later banned
from that city for resisting the pope's political authority there. After
the Templars began to be arrested in 1307, were put on trial in Italy and
other countries, and hundreds of them were burned to death, the words of
Dante's Inferno came pouring out of his pen.

Credit:
Botticelli

Beatrice
Portinari

Dante
fell in love with Beatrice when he was only nine years old, but would love
her all his life. Unfortunately his parents signed a contract for him to
marry someone else, so he and Beatrice could never become a couple. Then
she tragically died when he was 25. Yet in his writings, she was
everywhere. She appeared briefly to him in Inferno, then escorted
him through heaven in Paradiso. Here we see them together at last.

Credit:
Doré

More
Illustrations of Dante's Inferno....

Dante's
unusual scenes creep into Dan Brown's novel in different ways. To see
what is going on it really helps to see pictures. Otherwise it's hell, so
to speak. Here are more
illustrations.

Botticelli

Sandro
Botticelli was a painter in Florence who suffered the unfortunate fate of
having his work become much more famous than himself. His "Birth of
Venus" is widely recognized and still used today as an image of
beauty and radiant good health. Hardly anyone can recall whose hand and
artistry created it.

Credit:
Botticelli

Map
of Hell

One
of Botticelli's less well-known works is very relevant here, and that is his
La Mappa dell' Inferno -- the map of hell.

Credit:
Botticelli

Duomo

This
is the grand cathedral of Florence, and bears the lengthy official name of
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It is traditionally called the
Duomo because of its large, distincitve dome. This is perhaps the single
most well-known landmark of the city.

Back
when Florence was a walled city, this was the main gate. Now most of the
wall is gone, but the Porta Romana gate is still there, able to tie up
traffic on occasion.

Credit:
Sailko

Cosimo
de' Medici

As
heir to his family, young Cosimo became Duke of Florence, but through
military and political means he took contol of all the surrounding lands
and became Grand Duke of Tuscany. He moved the family seat to Palazzo
Pitti, south of the Arno River, and that caused him to build the secret
passageways of Florence.

Credit:
Bronzino

Florence
Map

This
is a slightly wider view of Florence showing more of its famous locations.

Credit:
Holst

Secret
Passageways (Vasari Corridor)

Cosimo
de' Medici ordered this collection of passageways to be built in 1564 so
he could move about the city of Florence in safety and without being seen.
Giorgio Vasari completed the task for him, and the corridor is shown here
crossing the Ponte Vecchio, mixed in with the upper levels of buildings on
the bridge.

Vasari
was also a prolific painter and included the strange words "cerca
trova" on one of his paintings. It means "search and find,"
a phrase that haunts Robert Langdon in his nightmare.

Credit:
Vasari

Michelangelo

This
extraordinary artist was actually named Michelangelo di Lodovico
Buonarroti Simoni, so you can understand why everyone just called him
Michelangelo. Known mainly as a sculptor and painter, he was a true
Renaissance man with many talents. He sculpted the beautiful Pietà
when he was only 24, then he went on to paint the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel at the Vatican, a role in which he is often portrayed and
remembered.

Credit:
Jacopino del Conte

David

Perhaps
Michelangelo's most famous sculpture was his colossal and magnificent David,
which he crafted when he was 29 years of age. Commissioned by the city of
Florence, It stood in front of the Palazzo Vecchio for many years, before
being moved to the more sheltered confines of the Accademia Gallery in
Florence.

Filippo
Brunelleschi was an engineer and architect, which sounds rather boring,
except for the fact that he created wonders of art with his skill. The
most famous of these is the dome of the Duomo cathedral that gives it that
name. It was the largest dome built since the days of the Romans. That it
is still standing and still beautiful adds to his accomplishment.

In
front of the Duomo stands this smaller building of similar design, where
Dante and many other people of his day were baptized. The large, elaborate
and heavy doors are known as the "Gates of Paradise."

This
spectacular place contains a vast area, with many mysterious objects,
spaces and secrets. This golden image inside the dome was painted by John
Singer Sargent in 1891.

Credit:
Sargent

So....there
you have as many illustrations as we can show you without giving away too
much of the story. For the rest, read the book....

In
real life the Templars who survived those fiery attacks during Dante's day
escaped to live in secrecy outside the law. That act of defiance grew into
a rebellion that gave them a measure of revenge on the Vatican and
kings who had attacked them. Their story is now told in Sworn in
Secret: Freemasonry and the Knights Templar.
It reads like a Dan Brown novel, with its trail of clues that reveal the
struggles between Templars and the Vatican, but these are real people and
events.

When
many Templars were burned to death after 1307, it inspired Dante to write
his Inferno. That in turn inspired Dan Brown to write his Inferno. But
the story of the surviving Templars is in many ways as fascinating as
those two works of fiction.

Templars

Intriguing
new sources light up this stirring story of the Knights Templar. By
following the lives of individual knights we get to experience their rise,
fall and survival. Those who avoided being burned at the stake were forced
to live in secret outside the law. In
time they had their revenge on kings and the Vatican for their fallen
brothers.